Too close for comfort!

It was in a park near to where I was brought up and where my family still live. I briefly considered whether or not either my brother or sister would have been involved and rejected it, mainly because neither of them are interested in “modern art”.I spoke to my sister this weekend and, after the usual discussion about the weather, our mother, and arrangements for holidays, my sister dropped into the conversation ” Awful about that incident at the park, last week, wasn’t it?”. Then revealed that she, my brother in law and my youngest niece (aged 6) had not only been there , but 10 minutes before the accident were standing in the queue waiting to go into the “maze”.Luckily, M read a brochure about the artwork and decided it was not likely to be the “bouncy castle experience” my niece, Claire hoped for, and they had gone to the children’s playground. Ten minutes later they looked up to a “wall of colour” sweeping towards them, grabbed Claire, and ran to the shelter of some trees.

They weren’t injured, they aren’t traumatised , but I felt shocked and shaken at how near they were to being involved in a tragic accident. Two people died, a little girl is seriously injured and a number of adults and children have injuries.

My brother-in-law ran to see if he could help when the inflatable was snagged on a CCTV camera mast, as did many others and it was torn open and people were being pulled out before the police and paramedics arrived. However, the reaction of some people was to take photos and videos.

I’m not sure how to take that. If there is nothing for you to do to help, is it reasonable to photograph/film other people’s distress?